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The Securities and Exchange Commission is clashing with the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Financial Research over whether asset managers threaten the financial system. The SEC, which regulates the asset-management industry, says an Office of Financial Research report overstates asset managers' potential risk.

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Threats related to cybersecurity, identity theft and privacy are the top concerns of 88% of registered investment advisers surveyed by the Investment Adviser Association, ACA Compliance Group and asset-management holding company OMA. During the past 18 months, almost 20% of advisers' firms have been hit by some kind of cybersecurity breach, the survey found.

The U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council is scheduled Thursday to discuss which nonbank financial firms, such as insurers, will fall under Federal Reserve jurisdiction and face increased supervision. The council also will discuss its asset-manager research.

High-speed-trading company IMC Chicago is the latest automated firm to gain a place on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. The firm has taken a spot purchased from a Goldman Sachs Group unit, leaving Barclays as the only bank on the floor.

Preliminary economic data suggest that China's targeted stimulus measures are starting to gain traction. The HSBC flash Purchasing Managers' Index for July rose to 52, the second consecutive monthly improvement and the highest number since January 2013.

A senior Treasury Department official faced questions about a report on the asset-management industry at a hearing of the Senate banking committee. Three Republican senators criticized the Office of Financial Research's report, which says the asset-management industry poses risk to the financial system. "You could argue that the September report in some ways may overstate the risks and in some ways minimizes the very extensive regulation that is already in place on asset managers," said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.